Passing Time
Chicago Art Book Fair thrilled to present Passing Time
A question beckons, what are the times that we’re in?: the state of artists book publishing, the natural world, the measure of sound, the markers of histories. Time at this moment seems as urgent or cynical as ever for could we have all the time or no time at all? This year we’re asking how you take your time, keep its tempo, note, mark, bend, bind it?
The Chicago Art Book Fair is an international showcase of arts publishers, independent book presses, comic artists, zinemakers, printmakers, and more. Chicago Art Book Fair has served as an affordable, accessible means to access emerging art book techniques within the publishing space.
As the arts become increasingly targeted, The Chicago Art Book Fair provides a space for creators to form communities around their various practices. We support artists who are creating boundary-pushing printed media and provide a platform to feature their work to audiences in one of the country’s major cities, here in Chicago.
This year's Chicago Art Book Fair will be held November 13 - 15th 2026. Thanks to community sponsors, CABF is thrilled to provide 3 FREE booths for students who are currently enrolled in programs, 3 FREE booths for Publishers that are run by BIPOC members.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Chicago Art Book Fair takes place on the land of the Anishinaabe, or the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other Nations consider this area their traditional homeland, including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo and Mascouten. We acknowledge all Native peoples who came before us and who continue to contribute to this day.
CONTACT US
Email: chicagoabf@gmail.com
Social: @chicago_art_book_fair
Identity and web design by D. Josh Cook and Oscar Solis
Program
Little Palestine Project: Objects of Memory
riso & rhythm: zine making workshop
New Orthographies: zine workshop
keepsake. : leaf printing workshop
Impresiones de Lucha: collective learning and printmaking workshop
Little Palestine Project: Objects of Memory
The Little Palestine Project is excited to announce its inaugural lecture, Little Palestine Project: Objects of Memory. Located in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, Little Palestine is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States. The Little Palestine Project is an object-based oral history initiative dedicated to documenting and preserving the histories of Arab immigrants who have settled in the area and established a vibrant community. The lecture will trace the history of the region and its interconnectedness with the social, political, and cultural fabric of the city of Chicago.
The Little Palestine Project: Vol. 1 Zine is a 60-page bilingual zine featuring excerpts from interviews from the first year of The Little Palestine Project. Available for purchase in the Learning Lab, located on the 1st floor at the Washington entrance.
Dorrah Alharbi is a curator and community archivist whose work examines the politics of memory in modern and contemporary art from West Asia, with particular attention to artistic experimentation of Arab artists in the diaspora. In 2024, Alharbi founded and continues to direct the Little Palestine Project, a digital archival initiative preserving and documenting oral histories of Arab immigrant communities in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. The Little Palestine Project has been featured in the Chicago Reader and Arab News.
Instagram: @littlepalestineproject
riso & rhythm: zine making workshop
“The sounds which create joy – whether it be jazz, house or any other ‘riddim’ – are the carriers of stories and memories.”
Join Norman Hernandez, who will be guiding a sonic meditation, while Mirelle (Roots to Fruits) will lead participants in translating the rhythms and stories to (riso)print.
Drawing from a wide range of Black sonic traditions, and under guidance, participants will create a collective zine in which each person contributes their personal stories exploring music and collective memory.
RSVP is encouraged.
Instagram: @errrrantry, @rootstofruits.info
New Orthographies: zine workshop
Join Lydia Cheshewalla in New Orthographies. Participants will learn different ways to give visual form to hidden and forgotten languages, creating zines that act as pocket dictionaries.
For this workshop, participants are asked to bring images and objects from their personal collections. Consider objects or images that elicit a personal response that is hard to put into words, that have become sacred to you, that deserve memorial, or with which you want a deeper relationship.
Lydia Cheshewalla is an Osage ephemeral artist from Oklahoma, living and working in motion throughout the Great Plains ecoregion. Through the creation of site-specific land art and ephemeral installations grounded in Indigenous land stewardship practices and kinship pedagogies, Lydia engages in multivocal conversations about place and relationship. Her work has been shown at Generator Space, the Union for Contemporary Art (Omaha, NE), Comfort Station, Harold Washington Library, the Center for Native Futures, Elmhurst Art Museum, Brushwood Center, and the National Public Housing Museum (Chicago, IL), among others. She is currently filling the bucket with water to see if it leaks and is often found standing in fields.
RSVP is encouraged: reserve a spot
Instagram: @goodwithcoffee
keepsake. : leaf printing workshop
SUBlvl will be guiding participants through different print processes to document plant life and the seasonal changes of our native flora.
SUBlvl is a Chicago-based experiential creative collective dedicated to artistic activations and programming that amplifies underrepresented and marginalized creatives across the diaspora. Through a multidisciplinary approach spanning visual art, performance, music, and immersive installations, SUBlvl creates dynamic spaces for artistic expression, collaboration, and community engagement.
RSVP is encouraged: reserve a spot
Web: SUBlvl.co
Impresiones de Lucha: collective learning and printmaking workshop
Join Alma de Izote and friends to learn together about the historical and current struggles in El Salvador through the role of popular education, music, and liberation theology.
Help us turn the Learning Lab into a DIY risograph print shop for agitational art which uplifts voices calling for human rights, supporting land and water defenders, and movements for the freedom of political prisoners. The workshop is suitable for everyone, young and old, no matter your level of knowledge or familiarity with the subject matter, and will be accessible for both Spanish and English speakers.
Alma de Izote is a multi-generational collective of Salvadorans and their allies in Chicago committed to the struggles of leftist popular and social movements in El Salvador.
RSVP is encouraged: reserve a spot
Instagram: @almadeizote
Vendors
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Visit
FAIR DATE & VENUE
Dates & Hours:
November 13, 2026 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
November 14, 2026 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
November 15, 2026 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Venue: Chicago Cultural Center
78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602
Email: chicagoabf@gmail.com
Social: @chicago_art_book_fair
The Chicago Art Book Fair is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
